On The Charts: Dylan Debuts Top 5, ZZ Top 10

Following last week’s goldmine of new music from legacy artists, we’re finding a few familiar faces at the top of the Billboard 200 album chart. Bob Dylan’s latest, Tempest, debuts high – No. 3 – while ZZ Top scores its highest album debut ever, coming in at No. 6 with La Futura.

As Billboard points out, Tempest is Dylan’s fifth consecutive top-10 album – a late-career renaissance that kicked off with the impeccable Time Out of Mind in 1997. Tempest, Dylan’s 35th album, sold 110,000 copies in its opening week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Unfortunately, he couldn’t clinch the No. 1 spot this week, which his last two albums – 2006’s Modern Times and 2009’s Together Through Life – have. Dylan’s competition this week: Dave Matthews Band and country group Little Big Town take the top two spots on the album chart.

For those who haven’t had a chance to check out the latest opus from the current Rolling Stone cover boy, give yourself a primer and start with Dylan’s new video – the violent, stalker-themed “Duquesne Whistle.”

In the nine years since ZZ Top released an album (Mescalero), much has changed about the music industry. That didn’t keep the Texan trio from scoring its highest debut on the album chart ever, as the Rick Rubin-produced La Futura comes in at No. 6 with 31,000 sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan. ZZ Top haven’t been in the top-10 since 1992, and that was with a greatest hits compilation at that.

Further down the Billboard 200 we find Talking Heads frontman David Byrne, who debuts at No. 23 with Love This Giant, his collaboration with indie rock’s resident guitar goddess, St. Vincent. An innovative, brass-tinged work, the album only sold 16,000 copies in its debut week.